02 Dec 2018

More needs to be done to fight gender based violence, says Sefhare- Ramokgonami MP, Ms Dorcas Makgato.

Debating the State-of-the-Nation Address, Ms Makgato said it was time for everyone to bring out the activism in themselves to talk about violence against women and children, “and not forgetting that there was violence committed against men.”

“I want to be an activist in my own right, I want to be an activist as a minister responsible for gender, I want to be an activist as a woman in this country,” she said.
MP Makgato said time had come to talk about issues such as child marriages and men who raped other men, saying the issues had been swept under the carpet for a long time

“As Parliament we ought to start talking about it because otherwise Botswana as a nation would be going the opposite direction whereas everyone elsewhere in the world are going somewhere,” she said.

MP Makgato said rape of any sort should be talked about and relevant laws passed to stop it and move forward.

She also promised that as minister she was going to ensure that children born with both gender would be protected and have rights as anyone.

She said it should be written that they were both boy and girl rather than have society chose the gender for the child, adding that the child would decide after growing.

MP Makgato commended President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi for strengthening the legislative framework as well as establishing the sexual offenders register to record sexual convicts.

She also hailed President  Masisi for committing “to make sure that he helps to eradicate gender based violence.” She said as the father to the nation, he called upon everyone to push the agenda for eradication of GBV.

“This is the time for us to be brave, counted, to confront all the social ills that Botswana is confronted with in everyday life,” stated MP Makgato

She further promised that in the first quarter of 2019, the country would hold a gender summit where they would discuss all issues relating to GBV, the strategy, roadmap and deliverables.

Regarding SONA, Ms Makgato criticised all those who had said the Presidents’ speech was long, saying it was supposed to be long for it carried a comprehensive report. “It was a report for the last five years that informed of where exactly

Botswana was headed,” said Ms Makgato, adding that a lengthy SONA was necessary as it looked at the “before, now and going forward.”

She said the address had  transformation and reviewed what had been achieved so as to inform policy makers going forward.

Meanwhile, MP Makgato also pointed out that Botswana had progressed and developed. She said she was not happy about unemployment, adding that the bulk of the unemployed were graduates.

“The problems that we have are problems that are normally associated with developed economies where they have doctors or physicians as taxi drivers because they could not find jobs,” she said.

She said with regards to unemployment in the country, her ministry had been tasked to be facilitators rather than being frustrators in giving services.

She added that they were working with other ministries to restore public confidence.

Regarding her constituency, she pointed out that there were still challenges of roads, mentioning villages of Mahalapye-Mokobeng, Ngwapa, Pilikwe, Chadibe and the Shakwe Moshupa roads.
Furthermore, she decried lack of water in the constituency.  Ends